2. Before creating our trailer, we chose what our plot and premise was going to focus on and who our target audience
was going to be. Once this was decided, we knew that we would need to correctly use typical horror conventions in
our trailer to draw in our target audience and interest them in our film.To do this, we followed the guidelines set out
byThomas Schatz in his book Hollywood Genres (1981). He highlighted that genre is an important tool in selling to
the target audience, as it helps clarify who the ideal target audience is and how to sell to them to create the largest
success. Knowing that we planned to create a hybrid genre comedy-body-horror zombie movie, we followed the
horror conventions of other comedy-body-horror movies such as Shaun of the Dead (2004). By following these
conventions, we hoped to create a trailer that would match the success and general positivity of these movies.
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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms of real media products?
3. Keeping in mind with our comedy-body horror theme,
we followed common horror conventions to make sure
our trailer was successful. Mise-en-scene was
implemented through special effects with make-up to
enhance the look of our zombies. This would highlight
the gore to ‘gross’ people out, scaring them with
stomach-turning events rather than mind-scarring
events. Like in the red-band trailer for Evil Dead (2013),
gore is one of the main features in our trailer. However,
while Evil Dead used gore to scare and disgust the
audience, such as the scene where the possessed girl
slices open her own tongue by ‘licking’ a box-cutter, in
our trailer our gore effects are more comedic, intending
to make the audience laugh but at the same time feel
uncomfortable.
While our zombie special effects were meant to be
scary, they were also designed to include a comedic
effect. Alongside this, the acting within our trailer is both
serious and comedic. Like in the red band trailer for
Zombieland (2009), we have an equal mix of comedy
and gore. In our trailer we have scenes such as where
one actor slices the head off a zombie with a machete
only for a few scenes later to be running towards the
camera waving his arms about. Similarly, in the trailer for
Zombieland, we see a montage of the characters
shooting and killing zombies, only for it to be followed by
a scene of the older male character crying saying: “I
haven’t cried like that since Titanic.”
Evil Dead (2013) - Official Red Band Trailer (HD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxLjqazSmQo Zombieland Trailer HD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1-jFLlHLPw
4. HOW DID YOU WORK ON PACING TO CREATE SUSPENSION
AND SHOCK?
The pacing of our trailer was designed to fit the standard
pacing conventions of horror trailers. It starts off slow with
the opening scenes introducing the initial characters
and then speeding up once the zombie attacks start. A
trailer with similar pacing is 7500(2014). It starts with the
initial introduction of the characters and the boarding of
the aeroplane, before speeding up as the passengers
are traumatised by some unknown force. Another
similarity between this trailer and ours is the overlaying
music. In the trailer for 7500 there is a calm, ironic track
of music playing throughout the trailer as the horror
unfolds. Throughout our trailer, the music was
intentionally picked to be overly dramatic to increase
the comedy within the trailer. Seeing people kill zombies
by itself could be scary or just action-packed. However,
with overly dramatic music layered on top, an element
of comedy is added as it makes the battles within the
trailer seem like the fate of the world depends on their
outcome, when really it doesn’t.
7500 (2014) Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbuIUyzfX5Q
5. WHAT AUTEUR INFLUENCE DID YOU BRING TO YOUR FILM?
When a director creates a movie with a distinct style,
one that reoccurs throughout all or most of their films,
they are known as an ’auteur’. This ‘auteur theory’ was
coined by Andrew Sarris in his article Notes on the
Auteur Theory (1962). Directors with distinct ‘auteur
styles’ are Tim Burton, with his dark-gothic style, and
Danny Boyle, with his left-wing political style. However,
during the construction and filming of our trailer, we
were not following any specific auteur as an influence.
Instead, we endeavoured to make our trailer as original
as possible, a task that was considered difficult as
zombie films are a very common subject in the horror
industry. Similarly, zombie-comedy films are just as
common, so we wished to distance ourselves from
already existing auteur styles to generate an original
and interesting trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnniLlnsooI
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